We’ve been having Siberian weather all week which has been named the Beast from the East. Bitingly cold wind and driving snow. To attempt the fifty mile drive to the woods earlier would have been crazy but yesterday looked like a chance to see my woods under a decent bed of snow. It’s something I have been waiting for since I took ownership, having only seen a small covering a couple of times. I was eager to see what animal tracks might be around, to give me some idea of where to place a trail camera in future. I had a couple of small jobs to do but mainly it was to be a day for exploring and some campfire cookery. My neighbours arrived around the same time and as we stood chatting about the animal tracks, a couple of robins appeared and were almost at touching distance. I never tire of sharing the closeness of a wild creature that has clearly sought me out.
I found a few tracks leading from my parking/work area down my paths into the lower woods. Mainly rabbits or hares which I think these are but I did see a much larger track with a regular gait which must be a fox. There were several large areas where the snow had been disturbed revealing the dead leaves but there were no tracks leading to it. The detective in me figured it must have been a bird and a large one at that. Maybe a buzzard or owl. Time to make a fire and a brew and create some decent embers for cooking my lunch. Fried eggs and Quorn “bacon” slices in a bread cake. I haven’t tried the veggie slices before and the attempt by the manufacturer to emulate real bacon slices leaves room for improvement. They look like insoles for childrens wellies. They tasted ok though. It amuses me why vegetarian food is designed to try to copy the meaty versions.
Where I have been felling this winter, there was still a lot of brash lying around, so I spent some time using it to extend the dead hedge at the top corner of my plot where it is accessible from a ride (track). I had heard that the neighbouring farmer has had lots of his logs stolen and that the thieving b******s were using quadbikes and had been seen entering the forest. The hedge will make it more difficult for them to gain access to my healthy stack of logs though they can still get to them if they are determined. I’m hoping that because I am a few hundred metres in from the field edge that they might not want to risk being spotted so far in, with no quick escape route.
One of the interesting affects of the snow is showing up the thousands of small saplings springing up all over the lower woods. These tiny trees are about two years old, mainly sycamore and ash. The snow has covered the dead leaves but not the saplings which has made them easily visble. Here’s just a small patch of them. I guess most will eventually die, unable to compete, otherwise I have a heck of a task thinning them out!
By the time I left, the snow had already started to thaw so the chance to see the woods like this again might not happen for another year or more. It was a rare chance to see it in a different light and have the pleasure of exploring again. I’ll leave you with a few more photos.
